GNSS in the Road Sector

Envisioning road transport in 2020 is inherently linked to smoother and safer road traffic, an efficiently used road network and empowered motorists capable of making informed route choices. 

The reality today is starkly different. Congestion plagues many road networks to the extent that a European statistic recently suggested up to 7,500 km of motorways are bottlenecked on a daily basis with significant economic repercussions. Lack of adequate road user charging mechanisms often mean what motorists pay into the system (registration taxes, fuel duties, etc.) does not translate into road improvement projects. Finally, with 50,000 fatalities last year in the European Union alone, the dramatic death toll on our roads remains without doubt the greatest threat of all.

Through GPS and EGNOS, satellite-based Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) already constitute an important component of the global answer to the challenges raised by increased personal and freight mobility. In a matter of years, the integrity, continuity, accuracy and availability provided by the GALILEO satellite system will open the doors to new ways of reducing the negative impact of road transport while at the same time offering new services to a wide range of stakeholders.
 

Characterisation of the road sector

Road transport fulfils a major socio-economic role in the European Union, involving a wide range of industries and services from vehicle manufacturers and suppliers to infrastructure builders, services, energy and research providers, public authorities, insurance and rental companies and many others.

In the enlarged EU, it could well be argued that the quality of Europe's road transport system will constitute a decisive factor for the socio-economic integration of citizens living in a Union now stretching from Portugal to Estonia. As the White Paper "European Transport Policy in 2010: Time to Decide" states "enlargement is set to trigger a veritable explosion in exchange of goods and people between countries of the Union".

To satisfy this role, meet all future challenges and still improve competitiveness, the European road transport sector needs to achieve continuous progress through an integrated system approach. Research must therefore be driven by the need to satisfy the predicted levels of personal mobility and freight transport - set to grow by respectively 32% and 69% in 2030 - while at the same time addressing the concerns highlighted in the European Transport Policy in 2010 White Paper:

• Achieving a significant and lasting decrease in road accidents and deaths
   
  In the enlarged EU, over 50,000 motorists lose their lives every year. In addition to the human distress caused by road accidents, the direct and indirect costs of road accidents have been estimated at some 2% of GDP. In the Third European Road Safety Action Programme, the Commission has reaffirmed the ambitious objective of halving these figures in 2010 and cutting them by 75% by 2020 - a target which requires common understanding of all contributing factors and an increased focus on the potential offered by active safety. At the Communication further states 'the contribution of […] conventional safety measures is reaching its limits, and further improvements in safety by these measures are becoming more and more difficult to achieve at a reasonable cost. This is why the in-vehicle passive safety has to be complemented by introducing on the markets more advanced in-vehicle and co-operative active safety systems".
   
• Improving the technical interoperability of the trans-European road network
   
  The trans-European Networks (TENs), as stated under Title XV, Articles 154 to 156 of the Treaty establishing the European Community were envisioned to strengthen Europe's economic and social cohesion and derive full benefit from the setting up of an area without internal frontiers. Article 155 specifically states "the Community shall implement any measures that may prove necessary to ensure the interoperability of the networks, in particular in the field of technical standardisation".
   
• Eradicating bottlenecks
   
  Approximately 7.500 kilometres of roads (about 10% of the road network) suffer congestion everyday in the European Union. Although the most affected areas are Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and North of France, surroundings of important cities in the whole European Union are usually congested. The provision of traffic information and management system is one of the most appreciated value added services in the transport sector. Allowing people to make informed route choices relieves frustration and, when generalised to the car fleet, could improve journey times by 15-20% according to the European Commission.
   
• Improving the quality of the road haulage sector
   
  For transport companies, freight management is one of the main tools to improve productivity, both for passengers and goods transport. Tracking of vehicles in order to avoid empty coming back travels, choice of best routes, continuous monitoring of hazardous goods transport, continuous monitoring of  transport of valuable goods and livestock, better interoperability conditions between roads and other modes of transport, these are all services already in use in many European countries.
  

Links of interest:

GALILEO - Europe shows the way (.mpg or Realvideo formats)

GALILEO Application Sheets - Road sector (.pdf file, 87 kb)